2026, March 23-29

We continued getting the house ready for sale while Mike continued his conference in Oxford. At the end of the week, Diamond and Caleb came to visit! 

Here are some photos of the interesting and pretty buildings that form the 39 colleges that fall under Oxford University. This is the Museum of Natural History across from Keble College with its striking Victorian Gothic "red brick" buildings which stand out from the more common limestone ones.  

Here are views from inside the museum. There are several in Oxford, but we didn't really have time to see them because of conflicts with the symposium schedule. 

Go GRIZ! 

A view of Broad Street, Oxford. See the bright orange building in the center? Mike's hotel room was on the top floor. Those are his room's windows. 

Walking around in the morning, Mike tried on a flat cap. He went ahead and bought it later in the week. Hallie thought he should smile. 

Here we are, ready for the symposium! 

On the grounds at Harris Manchester College, where the symposium was held. 

Here is where we had lunch during the symposium. If you think it looks like a mini version of the Hogwarts dining hall, you're not far off. Several Harry Potter movie locations were filmed at various Oxford University buildings. As it happens, in this hall plans were finalized for the D-Day invasion in 1944.

We took to the streets at night after dinner looking at all the picturesque buildings. 

A line of cabs waiting for clients. 

Mike found this Uniqlo at the Westgate Oxford.

Someone has specific unliked veggies. 

Remnants of gardens past. 

Landon received the award he earned from the city last November. We're so proud of him! 

Mike and his colleagues stayed at the Buttery Hotel on Broad Street. Very cozy, with old-style keys and steep, steep stairs. 

At Theo's Cafe, where Mike and his colleagues had most of their breakfasts. It's true. 

While the university students had Spring Break, lots of local schools had field trips. Look at these wee ones in their day-glow vests! 

Daleks?! Gere?!

Yes, he could have bought it online, but Mike will treasure this edition of Terry Pratchett's Nation bought at Blackwell's in Oxford for the rest of his days. 

Try to capture the immensity of the space in this Blackwell's bookshop on Broad Street. We're talking some 10,000 square feet with some three miles of shelving. 

Mug shots of celebrities in the toilet of a local restaurant, No. 1 Ship Street. 

Meanwhile at home, the pets kept the kids company. 

Warm spring sunset views.  

Taking in beautiful spaces while walking around town before going to the symposium. 

Here lies (one building of) the Harris Manchester College viewed from outside the courtyard. Our symposium session was held in the room with the bay window on the bottom floor to the right of the image.

The reason why we were here: one presentation and three days worth of listening to others present on a variety of education research topics. 

Albert Einstein wrote on this chalkboard while lecturing at the university about relativity and the potential age of the universe (which he estimated to be between 10 billion and 100 billon years old). 

The Radcliffe Camera, a Palladian-style academic library.

Fun crosswalk on the way to dinner. 

As Mike took one last late-night walk around Oxford, he saw this magenta-lighted building facade near the Sheldonian Theatre, but he couldn't find a way to get in closer. 

Hallie's new nails. 

Sunset at airport parking waiting to pick up Diamond and Caleb. 

Someone in the chemistry department is also a paper snowflake fan. 

Brioche or French toast? Why not both? Also, check out that egg yolk. 

Last views of Oxford. 

Hello, there! We took a train to London. 

Views from the train heading to London. 

Mind the Gap.

Arriving at Paddington Station. 

Saw several double-decker busses as we walked to the hotel. 

Do you see the Gherkin? 

Arms of the City of London on the Tower Bridge. 

Looks like HBO Max had some sort of promo going on. 

Modern and ancient, together. 

Borough Market. 

The dome of St. Paul's, a heavy influence on the US Capitol dome. 

Someone decided not to light their floors on the Shard. 

Views of the Tower and the Tower Bridge. 

The London Bridge, not to be confused with the original which now stands near Lake Havasu. 

View from his hotel room. 

On Friday morning, Mike took a little walk around the neighborhood near the hotel. 

Another snowflake fan. 

Why not embellish defunct telephone boxes with fake flowers? 

TESCO Express, A UK convenience store. All told, it was like a Japanese conbini, but not quite the same.

Stats for Thursday, March 26. Mike walked a half-marathon that day. 

Guardians of the Tower at work

Apparently suits of armour come in various sizes. 

We cam on a good day. Minimal lines to see the Crown Jewels (which we weren't allowed to photograph).

Apparently a menagerie of exotic animals used to live at the Tower as well. They were depicted in a series of metal sculptures. 

Monument to the Great Fire of London (1666).

We had lunch at a pub called the Sugarloaf.

St. Paul's Cathedral

"Feed the birds? Twopence a bag." Mike has to admit that he got a little emotional being here. Mary Poppins is one of his all-time favorite movies. 

Walking down to the Thames, Mike happened upon the College of Arms, built in the 1670s to house the English heralds and their official records of arms and pedigrees. For a heraldry afficionado like Mike, this is like the Mecca of UK heraldry. It's a shame we didn't have time to stop in. 

No trip to London would be complete without a Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour. Sadly, this means our trip was incomplete. 

We spent the afternoon on a Uber Boat that ran along the Thames, taking in the sights from the river. Here are the Palace of Westminster (AKA the Houses of Parliament) and Big Ben. 

The London Eye. 

The Cutty Sark, so called "Last of the Clipper Ships," among the fastest tea clippers and the last surviving of its type. 

Greenwich Merry-Go-Round with ponies named Susan and Michael. Mike's mom would have had so much fun on this trip! 

Somewhere around here is where we find the Prime Meridian. 

If the kids were younger or if we knew any littles, someone might be getting a Beefeater costume souvenir.  

Juxtaposition of ancient and modern: The Shard rising above the Tower. 

Fergus with his bedroom eyes (or his "leave me alone! I'm sleeping" glare). Take your pick. 

Eliza used some of the money she earned purchasing new art supplies. She has learned some watercolor techniques before, and it looks like she'll get plenty of opportunity for dabbling and experimenting. 

We all managed to fit ourselves and our luggage into a London Cab. Lake the TARDI, they're bigger on the inside. 

The cabbie took us past a lot of famous sites. The problem was he didn't tell us what we were seeing. For instance, this might be the backside of Buckingham Palace.     

Anyway, we got to the airport. This wasn't our taxi. 

This was: A Mercedes-Benz minivan. We nearly got back to Minneapolis without a hitch, but alas! One of our number fell ill mid-flight. Fortunately, (medical) doctors were available to help. 

While Mike was heading back to Missoula from the UK, Diamond and Caleb were landing in Salt Lake. The crew went to some fun places of interest. Here they had some tasty treats that looked like real fruit at Fillings & Emulsions. 

They also went to Salt Egg City, purveyor of (you guessed it) egg sandos. 

They also made it over to the City Creek Center for a Disney-themed event. 

E even got this cute outfit. 

Last leg heading back to Missoula with views of Minneapolis/St. Paul. 

Hallie caught sight of these cute daisy hubcaps on a VW Beetle. 

Winter is over, so Mike opted to shave. He never likes the weird transition from one mode of facial hair to another. 

Being that it was Mike's Mom's birthday, Hallie thought she might enjoy this chocolate mousse cake. 

Mike settled nto his Sunday Missoula routine while fighting jet lag. startled the local deer herd as he walked back and forth from the university. 

Hallie got brave and went up on a solo trip to Salt Lake in part to see Flightless Bird Live with David Farrier & Rob Holysz. 

Pretty flowers in bloom. 

The guys had some interesting performers and guests and shared their impressions about all things weird and wonderful about Utah. 

She came home to Fergus guarding the recently-filled plant pot. Earlier in the week, Hallie and Eliza had to stop a brawl between him and another local kitty. Dummy.